In the late summer of Konoha Year 22, the account book of the Ninja Talisman Hall rustled in Neji's hands. Outside the window, green leaves swayed quietly, and the wind occasionally swept a fallen leaf indoors, dropping it onto figures whose ink had not yet dried. Neji's slender fingers gently brushed the leaf away, but the instant his fingertips touched the paper, they trembled slightly.
"What is this...?"
An inexplicable palpitation suddenly struck him, as though someone had pressed a cold kunai against the small of his back. Neji abruptly looked up, his dark eyes sweeping toward the window—Konoha's commercial street was still bustling, merchants' cries rose and fell, and several children chased one another across the stone-paved road. Everything was peaceful as usual.
"Young Master Neji, this is last month's profit summary." Fujiwara, the Ninja Talisman Hall's shopkeeper, respectfully handed over a bamboo scroll. "As instructed, thirty percent of the profits has been deposited in the bank, while another twenty percent has been converted into gold bars."
Neji took the scroll. The cool sensation against his fingertips brought him back to himself somewhat. He unrolled it, and the dense rows of numbers made him frown slightly—780,000 ryo, pure profit from a single month. Two years ago, that number would have been beyond anything he dared imagine.
"The Uchiha Clan added another order for fifty Thunderfire Twin-Blast Tags this month?" Neji asked, pointing at a line in the accounts.
Fujiwara's face was full of smiles. "Yes. Ever since their border patrol used our Ninja Talismans to repel a Cloud Village reconnaissance squad last month, Uchiha clansmen have been coming to place orders regularly. And the Hyuga Clan, they—"
"I know." Neji raised a hand to cut him off as that inexplicable unease surged up again. He stood and walked to